WORM 2: Written by Dylan For the planaria lab I (Dylan) was in group three with Mike and Steve. Steve had asserted that he did not want to physically cut a worm himself so, for the two worms that needed to be sliced, Mike and I had authority over a single worm. The three of [...]

 Group 5 Observations (Alexa, Sabina, Afnan) Planaria Observations   Sabina: Working with the planaria was an opportunity to discuss different forms of immortality and survival. For our group, we noticed that both our uncut worm and a cut piece of tail not only grew, but eventually split apart and regenerated. This splitting was most likely [...]

Our understanding of biological immortality was given practical application with our experiment with the planaria in Professor Chamany’s lab. Although we have read a lot of theoretical work surrounding biological immortality, and the mechanisms for the regeneration of life, the actual physical practice and observations that took place during the experiments created a deeper understanding [...]

The planaria experiment was entirely unique for me, having not been in a lab setting or taken biology in several years.  It was also contrasting to the way we have studied the concept of immortality thus far in the course, through readings, lectures, podcasts and video platforms.  To be able to see with my own [...]